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Sisters of Providence in Washington v. A.A. Pain Clinic12/19/2003
r justification was on the defendants.
An instruction on burden of proof tells the jury which party must lose if the jury is not persuaded that a particular set of circumstances existed. For the following reasons, we conclude that the jury was instructed that if it did not find that the defendants' conduct was not privileged the plaintiffs must lose, and thus the burden of proof was properly allocated to the plaintiffs.
An instruction that tells a jury that if it finds that each element of a tort has been proved it must find for the plaintiff, but if it finds otherwise it must find for the defendant, places on the plaintiff the risk of losing if the proof is insufficient. Such an instruction allocates the burden of proof to the plaintiff even if no mention of burden of proof is made. The challenged instruction in this case contained this structure.
There was no general burden of proof instruction. But the instruction pertaining to the intentional interference tort told the jury that if it found that the first five elements of the tort were proven by the plaintiffs by a preponderance of the evidence, then the jury would have to decide "if the defendants' conduct was legally justified or privileged." The instruction went on to say that if the jury decided that the five elements were established and "that the defendants' conduct was not legally justified or privileged" then a verdict must be returned in favor of the plaintiffs; but if the jury found "otherwise," a verdict for the defense was required. With the word "otherwise" the court addressed the subject of what should be done if the jury failed to find that defendants' conduct was not justified or privileged. In that event the jury was instructed that it must find for the defendants.
Thus the jury was told that if it found that all six elements of the tort had been proved it should find for the plaintiffs; if not, it should find for the defendants. The instruction properly placed on the plaintiffs the risk of losing if any element was not proved. Although not a model of clarity, the instruction was legally sufficient to allocate the burden of proof to the plaintiffs.
Appeal Issue 2 Was the evidence sufficient to satisfy the elements of the plaintiffs' claims for intentional interference with prospective economic advantage?
The appellants' first contention here is that the tort of interference with a prospective economic advantage requires specifically identified third parties and that interfering with a doctor's ability to form a professional relationship with patients who are unidentified at the time of the challenged conduct is insufficient.
We have not so limited this tort. We have described it in the following terms: "Under the theory of intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, `a person who is involved in an economic relationship with another, or who is pursuing reasonable and legitimate prospects of entering such a relationship, is protected from a third person's wrongful conduct which is intended to disrupt the relationship.' " The highlighted language contemplates a broader range of third parties than merely those that are specifically identified.
The Group also argues that there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate any prospective business relationships. We do not find this argument persuasive. Chandler testified that he began seeing a twenty percent decrease in referrals to his office after the 1994 exclusive went into effect. He explained in detail exactly how the referral process changed, and named one physician who stopped making referrals to Chandler's office. Chandler's testimony that he had heard of such a prohibition on
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